Dighton hires architect to design police station

DIGHTON — Last November, the proposed new police station project broke ground when the town announced that a reputable project manager would take charge.

Last week, Hartford, Conn.-based Tecton Architects was unveiled as the project designers.

Selectmen Chairman Dean Cronin said their services will cost the town $180,000, but the price should be worth it in the end.

The company, which has designed dozens of similar projects, will conduct all schematics, landscaping, design prints and organize all subcontractors and contractors when construction begins.

“They are involved with all those phases as well as (working with) the committee,” Cronin said. “It is a very reputable company. They have built dozens and dozens of police stations. Some committee members have looked at what they have built and were pretty impressed.”

Cronin said that the project is well within the two-year timeframe unveiled at the end of last year. He said now that project managers and designers have been hired, the pace of the project will progress quickly.

“These two steps — the designer services and the project manager — were the most tedious stages. After you get by those two, the frame is much shorter. It really starts to roll,” Cronin said.

In November, Pomroy Associates, of East Bridgewater, were tapped as the project managers.

The proposed 7,020-square-foot police station was approved by voters at the annual Town Meeting on June 12, 2012, and in a Town Referendum on Aug. 9. It is on land to the immediate south of the Dighton Power entrance, according to Taunton Gazette reports.

The approximate $2.5 million new police station will mean an estimated tax increase for residents of about $14 per year per $100,000 of home valuation, according to the Dighton assessor’s office reports.